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A justice department lawyer stated that Canadian same-sex marriages are invalid if couples cannot be legally wed in their home countries. Then the uproar began

By Sarah BarmakSpecial to the Star

Fri., Jan. 13, 2012

The Issue: A federal justice department opinion in a divorce case says that Canadian same-sex marriages are invalid if the couples cannot be legally wed in their home countries. That stunning revelation threatened to nullify thousands of foreign same-sex marriages since 2004. The Harper government on Friday afternoon vowed to repair the situation, which it blamed on a 2005 legal gap left behind by the previous Liberal government. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in Toronto that the Civil Marriage Act will be changed “so that any marriages performed in Canada that aren’t recognized in the couple's home jurisdiction will be recognized in Canada.” Until Nicholson’s move, the visceral heat on Ottawa had spread far beyond our borders.

Lawyer Martha McCarthy, who represents two women who married in Toronto and are now seeking a divorce: “It is scandalous . . . . It is offensive to their dignity and human rights to suggest they weren’t married or that they have something that is a nullity. . . . It is appalling and outrageous that two levels of government would be taking this position without ever having raised it before, telling anybody it was an issue or doing anything proactive about it. All the while, they were handing out licences to perform marriages across the country to non-resident people.”

Stephen Harper to reporters Thursday: “We have no intention of further reopening or opening this issue. . . . In terms of the specifics of the story this morning, I will admit to you that I am not aware of the details.”

Comedian Rick Mercer (@rickmercer), on Twitter: “I believe what we have here is called incremental conservatism.”

Writer Dan Savage, in blog post titled, “Canada’s Conservative government turns my husband back into my boyfriend”: “The debate over same-sex marriage and the civil equality of gays and lesbians has been returned to the front pages of Canada’s newspapers and a renewed debate over same-sex marriage will dominate Canadian television and radio news programs. And Canada’s religious conservatives will doubtless complain — loud and long — about their precious children having to hear about homosexuality every time they turn on the news. Stephen Harper’s government reopened this issue, not the gays, and Stephen Harper’s government deserves the blame. There will be lawsuits, time and money will be wasted, oceans of ink and pixels will be spilled, before this issue — the full civil equality of gays and lesbians — winds up before the Supreme Court of Canada. I’m confident that justice will prevail — God bless the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — but the decision to reopen this issue is going to be one massive distraction for the Canadian government. Gays and lesbians inside and outside of Canada are going to make sure of it. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go wake up my husband and tell him we got divorced last night.”

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Blogger Kevin Farrell: “Critics of this attack on LGBT people have noted both online and off that if gay marriages are now without legal standing in Canada if the couple’s homeland forbids them, are Middle Eastern women living in Canada now stripped of their rights to vote, drive a car or even show their hair? Is being gay now punishable by death in Canada if you’re from Uganda? Is blogging or criticizing your government now illegal for Egyptians living in Canada?”

Journalist Ivor Tossell (@ivortossell), on Twitter: “I’m also curious to know why Canada would issue invalid marriages in the first place. Does the licence have ‘Psych!’ written on it?”

Journalist Kady O’Malley (@kady), on Twitter: “You know what would solve this problem nicely, incidentally? Getting your act together on same-sex marriage, America/rest of the world.”

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae to the Star Thursday: “The narrow interpretation of the law shows that the Harper government is trying to take away same-sex rights by stealth, and Canadians need to know that the advances we thought were secure are now under threat from the Harper neo-conservatives.”

Oddly prescient December 2011 Liberal fundraising letter from Jean Chrétien: “The Conservatives have already ended gun control and Kyoto. Next may be a woman’s right to choose, or gay marriage. Then might come capital punishment. And one by one, the values we cherish as Canadians will be gone.”

Even more prescient NDP MPP Randall Garrison, whose party first raised objections to the government’s tack in the court case in the fall of 2011, in the House of Commons on Oct. 6: “Unfortunately, the Conservatives are now trying to erode this right by intervening in an Ontario case to oppose recognition of a same-sex civil partnership . . . . Why is the minister of justice intervening in this case to deny equal protection of the law for all same-sex couples?”

Megan Gaucher, Queen’s University political studies PhD student, in a statement: “While the Harper government continues to use Canada’s progressive stance on gay rights to promote its human rights agenda abroad, it is simultaneously making it more difficult for non-Canadian gays and lesbians to enjoy these rights.”

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